, 1887-11-03
WAYS OF THE ROACH.
Tie Bane of Housewives-where He
Comes from and What He Eats.

history began, but the abominable extent
of this faithfulness has arisen in civilized
communities chiefly within recent times.
There is a roach, a little, outdoor, inno-
cent kind, that is supposed to be in
digenous in this country. 1t lives in the
fields, under stones and rubbish, and is
good food for birds. But the common
cockroach of the home and flreside came
from the Levant in ships and bales of
merchandise to England, of which coun-
Try Wood, the writer on bugs, says, lit
has completely taken possession" At
first, as in this country, it was confined
to seaport towns, but the climate in the
neighborhood of kitchen fires suited it,
and the drippings about the kitchen sinks
gave it the moisture which is as essential
to it as food, and so it strayed and spread,
coming across h sea to America quickly,
and staying and spreading here, too, I'M
til the nuisance Of its presence, which has
increased every year, has reached in New
York and other large cities along the
coast an extent that is almost intoler-
able. The kitchen fires long since ceased
TO satisfy the desires of its soul. 1t has
followed water INT steam pipes all over
buildings of every sort. Office buildings
and stores are as much overrun with the
insects as dwellings. The only relief is
in the constant killing of them, and there
are men in New York who make a bust
ness, and a profitable one, of Kidding
hotels and large private houses of the
pests. Even this professional work does
no permanent good, but only brings re-
lief for a time.
The roach is, entomologically speaking,
an Orthoptera. In plain English he be.
longs to the g~rasshopper family. Scien-
GiHCo1ly la 10 n Ilott, D,,nrtoI;, or1 l,,
four wings that he doesn't use, and that
are absent entirely in the females of
most species, a black or reddish brown
body that reaches an inch in length if
the bug isn't killed first. Long, awl-
shaped antenna, each with eighty joints,
decorate his head. The bugs will eat al
most anything they car find. Flour,
bread, meat, clothes and shoes are some
of their delicacies. In dwellings their
usual forage is the crumbs and other
leavings of the kitchen and table. They
are essentially nocturnal, disappearing
into chinks n c%revices the moment a
light appears, but of late they lave be-
come SO abundant in New York that the
chinks and c~revices won't hold them.
and they are perforce seen much around
during the daylight.
The roach is not as rapid a breeder as
many other insects, but it seems to have
remarkable success i'll raising families.
The eggs are laid in a littla bean-shaped
capsule, three-eighths of an inch long and
half as wide In this the eggs, about
thirty in number, lie Ike peas in a pod
for several days, when the pod opens at
one side and lets the little, soft, white
'aby reaches out, after which it closes
light again and gives no sign that tie
eggs are not within as before, The fe-
males, before the eggs are Matched, draw
thee egg sac around behind them wher-
ever they 60, and their appearance with
this appendage has excited much interest
among kitchen amateurs in buGology.
After the young are Matched, the female
is said to brood over them somewhat as q
hen does. In three or four days the
young bug turns from white to brown
and is ready for business.
A peculiarly disagreeable feature of the
roach is the bad habit it has of discharg-
ing from its mouth a dark colored liquid
that has a most disgusting smell. Every
place which the insects frequent becomes
in time impregnated with this nauseous
odor, which sometimes Is SO powerful
that it sensibly affects the flavor of pro-
visions that have beer left in larders in
which reaches are plentiful.
Another kind of roach is officially
known as the ectobia G~ermanica, and is
peculiarly fond of Boston, where it is
known as the ''Croton bug" This insect
has got over the nocturnal habits of the
ordinary roach. 1t goes around freely in
daylight, and for real solid meals prefers
wheat bread. As a light lunch it is par
tial to cloth bound books. Leather bound
books it will not touch.
In Lapland they nave the blatta lap
ponica, smaller than the common roach,
but with slch astonishing v~oracity that
they frequently devour in one day the
entire stock of dried fish III a Laplander's
cabin.
Fully as voracious are a sort of reaches
that infest ships. 1t sometimes ,ccurs
that the steward going tc open a box of
crackers finds inside nothing but q mass
of reaches. In st. Petersburg it has been
necessary to destroy houses that had been
made uninhabitablc by reaches.
There are in all some 500 different
reaches hat AVE been caught and cata-
logued. A large section of the world is
still to hear from.
With all his manifold vices it is pleasant
to NOW that the roach is not altogether
bad. There yet remains in the breast of
even the latest and ugliest roach that
ever 5pOueu u CuSIaTu PIE one sentiment
sprung from the heaven born heart of
those fiery swords from which his race is
descended. Though innumerable dam
aged dinners, ruined luncheons without
end and an ~uncounted host of breakfasts
made odious by his unwelcome presence
be charged up against him; though many
firesides have been desolated by him and
numberless pantries laid waste. yet let
there, in justice, be set against his name
one legend of righteousness-the roach
eats bedbugs.
Many things eat reaches. Birds and
all insectivorous animals are especially
fond of them. Hedgebogs dote on them.
In England hedgehogs are sometimes kept
in kitchens on purpose to devour the
reaches. 1t is also said that in the Isle of
trance there exists a sort of sand wasp
that preys upon roaches.-New York
Sun.
Something for Furniture Makers.
Nature has provided a new industry for
furniture makers, by so working on n
redwood tree that its grain becomes curly